Vincent Scully, 58, a single man originally from the Carrigaline area in Co Cork, was pronounced dead at Fountainstown caravan park yesterday a short time after the incident.

It is understood Mr Scully, who has a mobile home at the caravan park and who often helped with the maintenance and upkeep of the facility, was helping to lay pipes in a trench towards a septic tank when the accident occurred.

He was working on the back-filling of the trench when the walls caved in or collapsed on top of him, trapping him underneath a huge mound of earth and rubble.

The alarm was raised around noon and members of the Cork County Fire Service and HSE ambulance crews rushed to the scene.

But it is understood Mr Scully had been deprived of oxygen for some time and had also suffered severe crush injuries.

Despite medical assistance at the scene, he was pronounced dead.

His remains were removed to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem is due to take place to establish the exact cause of death.

Gardaí sealed off the scene for a full technical examination and they also took statements from several people who were in the park at the time.

A Health and Safety Authority inspector also visited the site yesterday to try to establish the sequence of events, and the cause of the trench collapse.